Fast Failure Handling in Ethernet Networks

Ethernet is becoming increasingly popular in metro and carrier-grade networks because of its cost-effectiveness, simplicity and scalability. Nevertheless, Ethernet was originally designed as a LAN technology, therefore, it lacks some features, such as fast fault-protection and sophisticated management, which are very important in the new carrier-grade application areas. We propose a simple failure protection mechanism for Ethernet networks that can recover from node and link failures under 50 milliseconds, which is also provided by SDH/Sonet rings. The mechanism relies on a lightweight distributed protocol that runs on IP routers at the edges of the network and works with commodity off-the-shelf Ethernet switches. This paper describes the protocol design and implementation as well as the network testbed implementation for assessing the performance and the robustness of the mechanism. The results collected in the testbed are shown and discussed in the paper.